Officers checked the man's home, work, hospitals and police stations and found his new motorbike was also missing.

Inspector Rob Cocker said his team found his phone had not been used in the 24 hours up to his partner reporting him missing.

They also found the phone had not moved from the area between Thorne and Goole, which is large and sparsely populated. He said traffic officers checked roads and ditches with the help of the force helicopter.

They also launched a dedicated systematic police search system called Polsa and two full days of searching began of rivers, reservoirs, fields, ditches, houses and gardens in the Thorne, Rawcliffe and Snaith area.

Cocker said a small amount of debris from a motorbike was found at the side of a road on last Thursday. Firefighters and paramedics were called to join the search and the man was eventually found 6ft down a ditch, lying in water between East Cowick and Thorne. He was conscious and breathing, they said.

Officers said they believe the motorcyclist hit a metal signpost and then travelled approximately 200m further along the carriageway before ending in a ditch.

Cocker said: "Telephone analysis showed that the man's texts and call pattern was completely out of character. The analysis also gave the police a large search area in a predominantly rural part of the county.

"Even with a helicopter it is impossible to check every overgrown ditch and crevice and the only way to be 100% sure is to search on foot using officers on the ground.

"This was a large-scale missing person inquiry and required resources being pulled in from Scunthorpe and Hull and the use of the South Yorkshire helicopter for three days.

"All officers feared the worst and it was very pleasing to find the man alive and hope him well with his recovery. It is a credit to his determination that he is still alive."